Afghan-style salad (Salaateh Afghani)

Salads are about freshness and keeping cool. The leaves should ideally be picked on the same day you make the salad and burst with seasonal flavours. This is a salad with freshness and beautiful but simple ingredients.

This salad pops with flavour. It is pungent from the onions, and the chilli adds a zing of heat. The lime juice is tart, and the vegetables shine in their glory. DSimple, light and elegant, this is the perfect summer salad.

Durkhanai Ayubi tells her story of fleeing war-torn Afghanistan through recipes and stories in this cookbook. She runs two restaurants in Adelaide, is a freelance writer, and is a fellow of the Atlantic Institute. Through this book, she describes how new ideologies, such as Soviet-inspired communism and Islamic extremism, informed movements that challenged Afghan culture and traditions and led to the large-scale displacement of Afghans, including many members of her own family. This cookbook is filled with wonderful recipes that are delicious and they do stave my craving for great Afghan cuisine.

For more delicious recipes from this cookbook, click here.

Ingredients:

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 cucumbers, peeled and diced

1 small daikon radish, halved and thinly sliced into half-moons

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved longitudinally

1 handful mint, roughly chopped

1 handful cilantro, roughly chopped

1 green chilli, minced

1 baby lettuce, roughly chopped

3-4 spring onions, thinly sliced

Salt, to taste

Juice of 2 lime

Toss all the ingredients for the salad, except the salt and lime juice, and set aside in the fridge.

When you are ready to serve add the lime juice and toss well. Sprinkle with salt and serve immediately.